1 results found

Phil Barnes KC

Call: 2014 (Solicitor 2005) | Silk: 2026
Criminal

Overview

Phil was called to the Bar in 2014, but his legal career began in 2003 when he joined one of Manchester’s leading specialist criminal law practices.  He would go on to spend more than a decade climbing the ladder as a solicitor, becoming one of the most widely-recognised and well-respected higher court advocates on Circuit.  

His ability was clear from the very start.  In a letter appointing him as a duty solicitor at the age of just 23, the Dean of the University of Cardiff Law School described the course assessors as being “unanimously of the view that he is one of the most talented young solicitors we have ever had qualify through the scheme”.    

In 2014 Phil was approached with the offer to join the team here at Nine.  Since joining the Bar, he has never looked back, taking appointments as a Deputy District Judge in 2017 and as a Recorder in the Crown Courts in 2019 and then being appointed into silk in 2026.

Phil is best-known as a prosecutor of serious and organised crime.  He regularly represents the Crown in cases of murder and manslaughter, national and international-scale drugs conspiracies and importations, kidnapping, firearms offences, corruption, rapes and serious sexual assaults, fatal driving offences and serious violence, amongst many others.  

He receives repeat instructions from the CPS complex casework unit, commonly dealing with multiple-defendant prosecutions of the utmost gravity, and often involving complex areas of law.  He prosecutes on behalf of the National Crime Agency and the Specialist Crime Division and, since 2020, has been one of the small number of specialist Counsel responsible for prosecuting the ‘EncroChat’ cases.  

Phil has wide-ranging experience of providing pre-charge advice on serious and complex prosecutions, often working with investigators from the outset of an operation, assisting and directing them to help build a comprehensive evidential picture which will translate into a cohesive narrative at trial.  

He has extensive experience of disclosure and unused material handling – including dealing with highly sensitive information, applications for public interest immunity and intelligence management.  

Through all of this though, he has not forgotten his roots as a defence lawyer, and Phil remains highly sought-after to defend in cases of the utmost seriousness, particularly where a sensitive and client-focussed approach is required, or where defending is assisted by an intricate knowledge of prosecution procedures.  

He has developed a particular reputation for defending professionals such as police officers, teachers and prison staff who are facing criminal charges.  Phil also accepts instructions to defend gross misconduct proceedings under the Police (Conduct) Regulations, and can continue to defend police defendants before their professional regulators long after any criminal cases have come to an end. 

 

Criminal

Phil has in excess of 20 years’ experience in the criminal courts, prosecuting and defending in the most serious cases.  

He has particular expertise in multi-handed organised crime prosecutions, and has acted as both junior and leader for the Crown in cases of murder and manslaughter, conspiracies to commit serious crime, kidnapping, serious violence, fatal road traffic offences, corruption, serious firearms offences and the supply, importation and production of drugs. He has extensive experience of advising the Crown on complex and sensitive disclosure issues, including dealing with surveillance, intelligence, extra-territorial evidence, applications for public interest immunity and electronic communication material.   He also prosecutes the most serious sexual offences, often involving vulnerable victims and children.  He regularly receives instructions from both the CPS complex casework unit and the specialist crime division.

Phil has been defending clients for his entire career, from the custody office to the Court of Appeal and back again.  His defence portfolio includes acting for those charged with murder and attempted murder, rape, firearms offences, drugs conspiracies, perverting the course of justice, serious offences of violence and many others.  He has a particular reputation for defending professionals charged with offences committed during the course of their work, and is regularly instructed by the Police Federation to represent police officers brought before the courts facing criminal charges.  

Phil has appeared in the Court of Appeal on a number of occasions throughout his career, in both conviction and sentence appeals, representing appellants or responding on behalf of the Crown.

Notable Cases

Operation Hardwick (2026)

Junior in the prosecution of three teenage boys for the fatal stabbing of another teenager on the streets of North Manchester, resulting in one conviction for murder, two for manslaughter and two for assisting an offender.  

Press: 

 

Operation Ceiler (2024-26)

Prosecuting three organised criminals for conspiracy to import class A drugs, conspiracies to supply class A drugs, conspiracy to transfer prohibited firearms, and conspiracy to kidnap, in a National Crime Agency-led case which relied on EncroChat evidence.  

Press:

 

Operation Pistachio (2025-26)

Prosecuting a corrupt member of court service staff for leaking sensitive information about police activity and warrant applications to organised criminals.  

Press:

 

R v ST (2024-25)

Prosecuting a serial rapist who attacked four sex workers at knifepoint in the area around Manchester Piccadilly railway station.  The case proceeded to trial, the defendant was convicted of all counts and received a life sentence.  

Press

 

Greater Manchester Police v PC McD

Defending a police officer in gross misconduct proceedings arising out of the officer driving in a manner beyond his authority in order to reach a serious domestic incident as quickly as possible, leading to a collision in which a member of the public was very seriously injured.  The police authority also alleged that the officer was dishonest in his reporting after the incident.  The officer was cleared of any dishonesty, and was cleared of gross misconduct in relation to the driving.  

Press

 

Operation Madura (2024)

Prosecuting in a multi-handed murder involving novel legal issues around the ability of the defendants to rely on the ‘householder’ branch of self-defence in circumstances where they had deliberately brought the fatal confrontation to their own door.  Phil was responsible for giving pre-charge advice to the police and CPS before the proceedings were brought, and once the case came before the courts he then acted as junior counsel for the Crown.   

Press

 

R v FR (2024)

Prosecuting a defendant who imported over £2.5million worth of cocaine into the UK via the Channel ports, concealing his activities as the legitimate business of a European courier. 

Press

 

Operation Glory (2023)

Appearing alone, prosecuting in a 6-defendant class-A drugs conspiracy based upon evidence from the EncroChat network.  Phil also represented the prosecution through the confiscation proceedings that followed.  

Press

 

Operation Malange (2023)

Leading counsel for the prosecution in a 9-defendant “EncroChat” class-A drugs conspiracy.  During the course of the case Phil successfully cross-examined Dr Duncan Campbell, one of the foremost independent experts on the reliability of EncroChat data and the limitations of the data capture system. Dr Campbell’s evidence was to suggest that the EncroChat data could not be relied upon to support convictions.  The jury convicted.  A transcript of Phil’s questioning of the expert was circulated nationwide as an example to prosecutors dealing with EncroChat cases.  

Press

 

R v JK (2022)

Defending a police sergeant charged with perverting the course of justice.  The Crown alleged that the defendant had concealed evidence of him mistreating a suspect during an arrest.  The officer was found not guilty on a submission of no case to answer.  Phil went on to represent the officer through gross misconduct proceedings before his professional regulators.  

 

 

Operation Chairs (2020)

Junior for the prosecution in a five-defendant case involving conspiracies to possess firearms with intent, conspiracy to cause GBH with intent and conspiracies to supply drugs. The case was one of the first UK prosecutions which relied upon evidence from the EncroChat breach.  The circumstances involved the mistaken-identity shooting of an innocent man on his front doorstep.  

Press

 

Operation Leopard (2018-2019) 

Junior counsel for the prosecution in the series of trials arising out of the Salford “A-Team” gangland feud which resulted in two firearms murders (including that of Paul Massey) and several attempted murders (including the shooting of seven-year old Christian Hickey and his mother on their front doorstep).  The main defendant received a whole-life term of imprisonment. Phil was embedded with the investigation team from the earliest stages of the case, giving pre-charge advice as well as assisting in the direction of the investigation and the handling of vast quantities of unused material and intelligence data.  

Press

 

Operation Speedway (2018) 

Leading counsel for the prosecution in a 14-defendant conspiracy to commit armed robbery and to launder the proceeds through fixed-odds betting terminals.  

Press

Appointments

Deputy District Judge (Magistrates’ Courts) (2017)

Recorder (2019)

Associations

Criminal Bar Association

Northern Circuit

Education

University of Leicester (LLB Hons, 1999-2002)

Manchester Metropolitan University (Legal Practice Course, 2002-2003)

Prescribed Information

Phil Barnes is a practising barrister, regulated by the Bar Standards Board. Details of information held by the BSB about Phil can be found here.

Phil’s clerks will provide no obligation quotations for all legal services that he offers. Phil accepts instructions on legal aid rates where those are available, details of which can be found here.  For other work, Phil usually charges a brief fee plus refresher fees for court hearings, with advisory, conference and other preparation work charged at an hourly rate. Phil aims to return paperwork within 10 working days, however his professional commitments, complexity and volume of documentation can affect these approximate timescales.

Related news
All news

Footer